Mechanics of Composite Materials

Two series of segmented poly(ester-urethanes) (SPEU) have been studied. The flexible segment of SPEU was formed from polycaprolactonediols (PCL diols) with a molecular mass of 600 to 10000 and the rigid one — from a blend of 2.4 and 2.6-toluene diisocyanates (TDI) and a chain extender. The first series of SPEU contained no side branches, whereas in the second series, side branches in the form of long chains of aliphatic structure were present at the rigid segment. The tensile strength of SPEU decreased when the molecular mass of the flexible segment increased from 600 to 2000; in this case, the specimens were of amorphous structure. An increase in the molecular mass of the flexible segment from 2000 to 10000 led to an increase in its degree of crystallinity and in the melting point, fusion enthalpy, tensile strength, yield stress in tension, and packing coefficient of SPEU. The side chains at the rigid segment affected the degree of phase separation insignificantly, but decreased the order of the structure, the glass transition temperature, and strength properties of SPEU, whereas the side chains at the flexible segment reduced its crystallinity.

The effect of water on the mechanical properties (tensile modulus, ultimate tensile strength, tensile strain, and specific work at break) of both chemically treated and untreated composites based on a recycled low-density polyethylene and linen yarn production waste is analyzed. It is found that three water sorption-desorption cycles change the tensile properties of both the materials irreversibly. This effect is considered as the result of partial fracture of the fiber-matrix interface.

Equations are derived which describe the stress field in thick orthotropic cylindrical shells of a material whose mechanical properties vary across the thickness. An iterative computation procedure is set up which takes into account transverse strains and where the initial approximation corresponds to the hypothesis of straight normals. The convergence of this method is estimated for the case of a thick orthotropic cylinder under axisymmetric strain, and the results are compared with the exact solution.

The independent components of the elasticity tensors of fourth to twelfth order are computed for several types of anisotropic media. Considerations relating to the experimental determination of the constants of nonlinearly elastic anisotropic materials are presented.